


The Many Lives of Quinnie Threadgoode

by Counterpunch



Series: Faberry Green Tomatoes [4]
Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-31
Updated: 2012-01-31
Packaged: 2017-10-30 09:42:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/330361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Counterpunch/pseuds/Counterpunch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Markers of the important times in Quinn's life. She was 8 when the world changed, 11 when her heart stopped, and 15 when it started beating again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Many Lives of Quinnie Threadgoode

_Quinnie Threadgoode was 8 when the world changed._

_  
_

She'd been hunting in the woods when sounds of the church choir filtered through the trees. Tossing the quails over her shoulder, she crept through the underbrush transfixed.

Quinn stood on her tiptoes, just tall enough to peek through the window in the back of the church.

She sounded like an angel.

An angel with brown hair, wearing a blue dress, standing in the third row of the choir with eyes pinched shut, singing as if Jesus Himself were coming down in a chariot from Heaven.

Quinn swore her toes tingled, and it had nothing to do with how long she stood outside that window.

She watched in awe as the girl finished singing and walked off the platform, but not before catching Quinn's eye in the window. She smiled and gave a little wave. Quinn blushed up to her ears and that's when she ran.

She completely forgot about the quail.

 

* * *

  
_Quinn was 11 when her heart stopped._

 

The train whistle mocked the scream that tore out of her throat- the one she screamed for Buddy. For six years she refused to go near the train tracks. Then one day she decided she was tired of being afraid and jumped on the nearest empty car. It was that night during that train ride that Railroad Bill was born.

Trains in the past stole life from Quinn. Ripped Buddy from between the tracks. Now, they gave life. Gaunt faces of the hungry and homeless whipped past her on the train and to Innie, the crates of food stacked in the corner could serve a much greater purpose. After she empties a shipment of cans to hobo camps all over Alabama, she'd chalk one up to Buddy.

It was easier than she thought, keeping a secret like that. When she heard kids talking excitedly over Railroad Bill's latest heist, Quinn have to bite her lip and leave the room to keep from grinning.

The feeling never got old.

 

* * *

  
_When Quinn was 15 her heart starts beating again._

_  
_

  
Nights in the summertime seemed to last forever.

Dusk would creep in slowly, and the fireflies would beckon a certain kind of magic.

August that year was particularly sticky. The humidity drenched everything in a heavy heat and so it was that one night, Rachel and Quinn snuck off after dark to the watering hole about a mile from the river. Outergarments were abandoned quickly and the weight of the water was a welcome relief from that of the air.

"Don't you dare," Quinn says, a few moments later.

Rachel's arm is poised, cocked and aimed. "Or you'll do what?" she retorts with a smirk before twisting her torso to splash Quinn with a wall of water.

Drenched, Quinn screams and tackles her into the water. "I told you not to! Now you've done it."

Eyes opened in mock fear, Rachel begs, "No, Quinn. Please don't. I didn't mean it, honest."

There's an evil glint in Quinn's eyes before she dives and reappears behind Rachel and grabs her body. She screams as Quinn starts tickling her mercilessly.

Their squeals echoed through the trees as they played in the water. Rachel squirms and twists, trying to escape but to no avail. She twists and the mood changes suddenly. They've ended up in quite the compromising position. Their faces so close together that their breath is mingling. Quinn's arms are locked around Rachel's back, which shakes as their laughter slowly dies down from chuckles to hitched breaths. Rachel is looking up into Quinn's eyes that stare back with such intensity. Despite the heat, Rachel shivers.

A pregnant silence fills the air before Quinn blinks and pulls away. And just like that, the moment is broken. She swims over to the rope swing that dangles lazily from a tree. Quinn climbs up, does a running jump and splashes in the water.

She swims back over to where Rachel, looking off into the distance, hasn't yet moved.

Quinn wipes the water from her face with both hands. They'd been to this watering hole dozens of times, and never once had Rachel come close to touching the rope swing. "You'll never jump, will you," she says.

Rachel looks back with a look Quinn can't place. It's angry for a moment, but softens into confusion and then settles into a gentle determination. It looks as if she's searching for something, and Quinn is holding her breath and it feels like forever.

"Don't say never to me," Rachel finally says before pushing herself forward and kisses Quinn right on the mouth.

There was a frozen moment when the entire world stopped before Quinn remembered she was still living on Earth- an Earth where Rachel was kissing her. When the sensations sunk in, Quinn let out a whoop and wrapped Rachel in her arms, spinning them around and around until they were dizzy. But with love or with motion, neither were sure.

It was all beginning.


End file.
